In Pictures: Vancouver Magazine’s Big Night

Ten award-winning chefs paired up with ten-award winning wineries. Here’s what that looks like

On Friday night (Feb. 5th), hundreds of food lovers gathered at Coast Coal Harbour on a personal pilgrimmage to taste as many food and wine samples as this city’s best chefs could offer. The chefs at Big Night, which was celebrating its 12th year, certainly rose to the occasion, although we don’t know whether that was because they wanted to impress the guests or simply out compete each other. But either way the guests ended up as perhaps the biggest winners of the night, as they got to experience everything from Miku’s blow-torched salmon to Blue Water Cafe’s caviar, all served up alongside some equally special wine.If you’re a fan of #foodporn, drool over some of the event’s menu items below.Guests were greeted by Vij’s mixologist Jay Jones’s cocktail of Russian Standard vodka with fennel and coconut flakes.Tableau Bar Bistro paired Wolf Blass’ Gold Label Chardonnay with slow-cooked bison short rib, beetroot and citrus ravioli, and celeriac puree.Chefs David Hawksworth and Rob Feenie pose for a quick photo between serving the 400 guests attending our 12th annual Big Night at Coast Coal Harbour. Cactus Club’s Branzino Crudo: Domenica Fiore Novella, shaved Himalayan pink salt (check out the Vanmag Instagram for a video of the salt-shaving process), Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve, and fresh lemon.Hawksworth’s confit lamb presse, charred eggplant, puffed black olive and mushroom soil was paired with our Wine Awards 2015 Best of Show: Wynns Black Label Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2012.Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar’s salmon caviar was one of the highlights of the evening, served with seaweed tempura and devilled organic egg. SakeOne’s G Joygen Shu Junmai Ginjo accompanied Blue Water’s salmon caviar. Vikram Vij’s vegetarian koftas with fenugreek curry were served with the refreshingly light Chateau De Nages ButiNages Rosé 2014.Another highlight of the evening: Miku’s Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi gathered quite the crowd with a fiery show. Campagnolo Roma’s Coppa di Testa with smoked lingua, winter herbs, and mostarda on pane bianco provided a welcome carb break in the middle of the evening—though the generous serving of Garry Oak’s pinot noir certainly added to the evening’s noise level. Screams were heard throughout the room late in the evening. But not to worry, it was just someone conveying extreme excitement as their successful ticket was drawn to win Les Dames D’Escoffier’s wall of wine.